The end of the affair between the British air traveller and Stansted is set to
get more unpleasant — and it could be the fault of an upstart Essex rival.

London’s third airport came to symbolise the new Labour boom and the
democratisation of air travel through the budget carriers: between 2002 and
2007 Stansted doubled its passenger numbers to 24 million. Since then there
has been a 25 per cent slump which, according to latest estimates from its
owner BAA, will get worse this year.

The Spanish-owned BAA said in its annual forecast that it expects the numbers
being handled